Sect. 2. But of what use soever these national judgments are to others, to be sure they shall be beneficial to God's own people ; when others die by fear, they shall live by faith ; if they be bane- ful poison to the wicked, they shall be healthful physic to the godly. For,
1. By these calamities God will mortify and purge their corrup- tions ; this winter weather shall be useful to destroy and rot those rank weeds, which the summer of prosperity bred, Isa. xxvii. 9. " By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged." Physic in its own nature is griping and unpleasant, but very useful and necessary to purge the body from noxious and malignant humours, which retained, may put life itself in hazard : And it is with the body politic, as with the body natural.
2. National judgments drive the people of God nearer to him, and to one another ; they drive the people of God to their knees, and make them pray more frequently, more fervently, and more feelingly than they ever were wont to do ; in this posture you find
them in ver. 8, 9- of this chapter. " Yea, in the way of thy judg- " ments, O Lord, have we waited for thee, the desire of our souls " is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul " have I desired thee in the night, yea, with my spirit within me " will I seek thee early."
3. In a word, by these distractions and distresses of nations, the people of God are more weaned from the world, and made to long more vehemently after heaven ; being now convinced by experience that this is not their rest. AVhen all things are tranquil and pro- sperous, God's own people are but too apt to fall asleep and dream of pleasure and rest on earth, to say as Job in his prosperity, " I " shall die in my nest, I shall multiply my days as the sand.'^ And then are their heads and hearts filled with many projects and designs, to promote their comforts, and make provision for their accommodations on earth : the multiplicity of earthly cares and comforts take up their time and thoughts too much, and make them that they mind death and eternity too little. But saith God, this must not be so, things must not go on at this rate, the prosperous world must not thus enchant my people ; I must irabitter the earth that I may thereby sweeten heaven the more to them ; when they find no rest below, they will surely seek it above.
These, and such like, are the gracious designs and ends of God in shaking the world by his terrible judgments ; but yet, though national troubles must necessarily come, the wisest of men cannot positively determine the precise time of those judgments ; we may indeed, by the signs of the times, discern their near approach ; yet our judgment can be but probable and conjectural, seeing there are tacit conditions in the dreadfulest threatenings, Jer. xviii. 7, 8. Jonah iii. 9, 10. And such is the merciful nature of God, that he oft-times turns away his anger from his people, when it seems ready to pour down upon them, Psal. Ixxviii. 38. The consideration whereof no way indulges security, but encourages to repentance and greater fervency in prayer.
Opening and conjirmmg the second m'oposition, viz. That God's
oivn people are much concerned in, and ought to be suitably qf-
fccted with those judgments that hefal the nation "wherein tliey live.
Sect. I. AF God's people have no concernment in these things, why are they called upon in this text, to turn into their chambers, hide themselves, and shut their doors, till the indignation be over- past t Certainly though God hath better provided for them than
THE RIGHTEOUS MA^'s HEFUOE. 331
others, yet they are two ways concerned in these cases as much as others: viz.
1 Upon a political | ^^^^^^^
2. Upon a religious j
1. Upon a poUtical account, as they are members of the com- munity, and so are equally concerned in the good or evil that be- fais the nation in which they live ; their cabins must follow the fate of the ship in which they sail : their lives, liberties, estates, and in- terest sink and swim with the Public. The good figs were carried away with the bad, Jer. xxiv. 5. In these outward respects it often-times bears as hard upon the righteous as upon the wicked. Ezek, xxi. 3. " I will draw forth my soul out of his sheath, and " will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked." In these outward respects, as it is with the good, so with the sinner, EccL. ix. 2. The same fire that burns the dry tree, often-times burns the green tree too, Ezek. xx. 47. Grace is above all hazards, but creature-enjoyments and comforts are not. The sins of the So- domites involves not only their own houses and estates, but Lot's also, in the ruin and overthrow ; wicked men often fare the better for the company of the godly, and the godly often fare the worse for the company of the wicked.
And it is not to be wondered at, if we consider that even the saints themselves have an hand in the provocation of these judg- ments, as well as others, Deut. xxxii. 19. " And when the Lord " saw it, he abhorred them because of the provoking of his sons and " of his daughters." We have contributed to the common heap of guilt, and therefore must justify God if we partake with others in the common calamity.
2. They are greatly concerned in such judgments upon a reli- gious and Christian account, for it is usual for the flood of God's judgments not only to sweep away our civil and natural, but our spiritual and best enjoyments and comforts. Thus the ordinances of God ceased in Babylon, and there the faithful bewailed their misery upon that account, Psal. cxxxvii. per totum ; " we wept " when we remembered thee, O Zion." Not only Israel flies, but the ark is taken prisoner by the enemy, 1 Sam. iv. 11. And you find the people of God more deeply concerned upon this account, than for all their outward losses and other sufferings, Zeph. iii. 18. " I will gather them of thee that are sorrowful for the solemn as- semblies, to whom the reproach of it was a burthen." For by how much our souls are more excellent than our bodies, and the con- cerns of eternity over-balance those of time ; by so much the more are we concerned in the loss of our spiritual, more than of our tem- poral mercies and enjoyments.
Grace indeed cannot be lost, but the means and instruments by
SS2 THE RIGHTEOUS MAX's REFUGE.
which it is begotten may; the golden candlestick is one of the moreables in God's house, Rev. ii. 5.
Thus you see a two-fold concernment that the people of God have in the effects of national judgments.